Australian Securities Exchange has selected Google Cloud as its preferred cloud partner with the aim of spurring product innovation in analytics and data.
Dan Chesterman, group executive, technology and data, chief information officer at ASX, says: “We operate critical infrastructure that underpins both the Australian and New Zealand financial markets, so having access to best-in-class technology is critical. Our collaboration with Google Cloud enables us to make data and insights accessible in a flexible and scalable environment. It will help us bring new products and services to market faster.”
He says the exchange operator is currently building new products with its debt, equities and futures market data, and investigating opportunities to collaborate on product development with Google Cloud.
The migration to Google Cloud, supported by implementation partner Servian, forms part of a wider business and technology transformation at ASX. The exchange is in the process of renewing several core platforms which will see the average age of the core equity market technologies drop from over 20 years to an average of less than five years.
The ASX has had a checquered history of technology transformation programmes of late. Last year, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission imposed new restrictions on the country’s national stock exchange following a botched technology upgrade in November 2020 that stopped trade for a day. This was followed in March this year by a four-hour outage that shut down trading in the futures markets. Meanwhile the ongoing saga over the Exchange’s much-delayed blockchain-based post-trade network continues. Initally set for go-live in April 2021, the project has suffered multiple delays and is unlikely to see the light of day before late 2024.